234 THE IRAQIANS

of the Kufian Iraqian doctrine, in the opinion of the Iraqians themselves and that of Shāfi'ī, appears from passages such as Tr. II, 9 (c): 'The Iraqians diverge from what they themselves relate from the Prophet, Abū Bakr, and 'Umar, and from what they consider a well-authenticated tradition from 'Alī, in favour of the doctrine of Ibrāhīm and of something that is erroneously transmitted from Ibn Mas'ūd.¹ The doctrine of the Kufian Iraqian school was based mainly on decisions ascribed to Ibrahim, although in the time of Shaibānī and Shāfi'ī the Iraqians had come to feel that this was not justifiable in theory.² Many of these opinions were projected back from Ibrāhīm to Ibn Mas'ūd, and Ibrāhīm became the main transmitter from Ibn Mas'ūd in the Iraqian school of law; but the doctrine of Ibrāhīm remained separate from the traditions going back to Ibn Mas'ūd.³ Ibrāhīm Nakha'ī is the 'lowest authority'⁴ for the ancient Iraqians of Kufa; in view of our former conclusions, we can dismiss the period before Ibrāhīm as legendary and have now to investigate how far the opinions ascribed to him can be considered authentic.

Judging from Āthār A.Y. and Āthār Shaib. which are the main sources for Ibrahim's doctrine, it appears that opinions of, and traditions transmitted by Ibrāhīm occur mostly in the legal chapters proper, much less in those concerning ritual, and hardly at all in those devoted to purely religious, ethical, and edifying matters. On the other hand, there are very few references to Ibrāhīm in Tr. I which treats of rather technical details of law on which Abū Ḥanīfa and Ibn Abī Lailā disagree. These technical legal questions, therefore, were in any case elaborated only after the time of "Ibrāhīm" or whosoever may be responsible for the opinions contained in Āthār A.Y. and Āthār Shaib.⁵

We have discussed several cases in which the opinions attributed to Ibrāhīm are presumably authentic.⁶ They are all concerned with questions of ritual.